An edition of The food explorer (2018)

The food explorer

the true adventures of the globe-trotting botanist who transformed what America eats

  • 2.0 (1 rating) ·
  • 2 Want to read
  • 1 Have read
The food explorer
Daniel Stone, Daniel Stone
Locate

My Reading Lists:

Create a new list

Check-In

×Close
Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
Today

  • 2.0 (1 rating) ·
  • 2 Want to read
  • 1 Have read

Buy this book

Last edited by ImportBot
January 14, 2023 | History
An edition of The food explorer (2018)

The food explorer

the true adventures of the globe-trotting botanist who transformed what America eats

  • 2.0 (1 rating) ·
  • 2 Want to read
  • 1 Have read

The true adventures of David Fairchild, a late-nineteenth-century food explorer who traveled the globe and introduced diverse crops like avocados, mangoes, seedless grapes--and thousands more--to the American plate.

"In the nineteenth century American meals were about subsistence, not enjoyment. Agriculture yielded stable, basic crops like soybeans, corn, and barley, and few growers considered variety or flavor. But as a new century approached, appetites broadened, and David Fairchild, a young botanist with an insatiable hunger to explore and experience the world, set out in search of foods that would enrich the American farmer and enchant the American eater. Boarding a steamship, Fairchild embarked with little money and even less confidence, but he abounded with curiosity. Soon he fell in with an eccentric San Francisco millionaire named Barbour Lathrop, who took a shine to the awkward young man and financed his wanderlust. Across oceans and over rails, up mountainsides and through the surf of tropical beaches, they visited five continents and more than fifty countries, encountering cultures unimaginable to his neighbors back home. Kale from Croatia, mangoes from India, and hops from Bavaria. Peaches from China, avocados from Chile, and pomegranates from Malta. Fairchild's finds weren't just limited to food: From Egypt he sent back a variety of cotton that revolutionized an industry, and from Japan he introduced the cherry blossom tree, forever brightening America's capital. Along the way he was arrested, caught diseases, and bargained with island tribes. But his culinary ambition came during a formative era, the golden age of science, travel, and a world growing more connected; and through him, America's food system was transformed into the most diverse ever."--Dust jacket.

Publish Date
Language
English
Pages
397

Buy this book

Book Details


Table of Contents

Chance encounters
One thousand dollars
East of Suez
Guest and protégé
The listless Pacific
One cause, one country
Crossing countries
Alligator pears
Grapes of a Venetian monk
Citrus maxima
Lemons, leaves, and the dawn of new light
On the banks of the Tigris
Bell's grand plan
A brain awhirl
Cherry trees with no cherries
The urge to walk
Outlaws, brigands, and murderers
Fly the coop
Sad and mad and so utterly unnecessary
Wij zijn Amerikanen
Epilogue.

Edition Notes

Includes bibliographical references (pages 329-385) and index.

Copyright Date
2018

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
580.92
Library of Congress
QK31.F2 .S76 2018, QK31.F2.S76 2018, QK31.F2 S76 2018

The Physical Object

Pagination
xvi, 397 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates
Number of pages
397

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL26945485M
ISBN 10
1101990589
ISBN 13
9781101990582
LCCN
2017030324
OCLC/WorldCat
988851760

Links outside Open Library

Community Reviews (0)

Feedback?
No community reviews have been submitted for this work.

Lists

This work does not appear on any lists.

History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON / OPDS | Wikipedia citation
January 14, 2023 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
December 18, 2022 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
October 11, 2020 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
August 5, 2020 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
May 24, 2019 Created by MARC Bot Imported from marc_openlibraries_sanfranciscopubliclibrary MARC record